For and against the referendum law

It has been an intense day at the Parliament of Catalonia so far. The Parliament’s hallways were already breathing tension this morning as the decisive day began. The hundreds of journalists following the parliamentary debate on short circuit TV flooded the press rooms and corridors of the Parliament. Not a single spot was left over. 

The atmosphere inside the chamber was also quite tense starting in the morning when the Catalan Parliament Bureau admitted the independence referendum law for debate, over the disagreement of the parliamentary groups in the opposition, a decision that raised the political temperature in Catalonia and Spain to unseen levels.

The chamber’s agenda and the opposing parties necessitated several adjournments of the plenary session during the day. Catalan News got to catch members from all the parties in between debates.    

For the referendum law

Due to the tension and possible outcome of the decisions made in the Catalan Parliament today, the governing coalition Junts pel Sí was difficult to get a hold of. Nevertheless, Míriam Nogueras, member of the Spanish Congress for PDeCAT, which is one of the parties in the Catalan governing coalition, stressed that the Parliament of Catalonia “is just using democracy to lay the groundwork to let the Catalan people vote”. She further put on the table that “the most important thing is that the Spanish State explains why they are not letting the Catalan people decide their own future.”

Joan Giner, a MP from the Catalan branch of Podemos (part of CSQP in the Catalan Parliament) emphasized that despite the “differences between the Government’s project and our project, we have met in a point to stand up for the people’s right to vote.” Giner stressed that the two coalitions “have different projects for the Catalonia, which is normal in a democracy”. “We are now at a point where people have to vote on October 1,” Giner concluded.

In this same vein, Quim Arrufat from the far-left pro-independence CUP said that today is an important day “because we are trying to open a window inside the Spanish regime”. “We are trying to establish the legal basis which will allow the Catalan people to vote in the referendum about whether they want to be independent or not,” he said. “We know it creates a lot of enemies in the Spanish courts and government, and therefore it is important that durng the day we finish all the procedures for the referendum law, so we can vote on independence on October 1,” he concluded.

…and against it

On the other hand, the Catalan Socialists, the populist Ciutadans party and the Catalonia’s People Party, all defending Spanish unity, have strongly rejected fast-track passage of the referendum bill. “The referendum that the groups supporting the Catalan government want to hold is not legal because it does not respect either the Spanish Constitution or the Catalan Statute,” stressed the Socialist MP Esther Niubó. “The referendum is neither legal nor binding. It cannot be because it does not respect legal guarantees,” said Niubó.

Catalonia’s People Party MP, Fernando Sánchez Costa, expressed his concern over the opposition MPs’ rights. “Today is a very sad day for Catalonia because the rights of the opposition groups have been violated. The ruling party wants to take Catalonia out from the rule of law and from the Constitution, which are sacred principles in all democracies,” said Sánchez Costa.